Greece's two largest labour unions have called a general strike after the government abruptly switched the state broadcaster off the air in the middle of the night.

Screens went black on state broadcaster ERT, cutting newscasters off mid-sentence, only hours after the decision was announced on Tuesday.

The government said the move was a temporary measure to staunch a waste of taxpayers' money, and said a smaller more efficient broadcaster would be opened later in the year.

ERT journalists are trying to use analogue channels and web-streaming to continue programming after the government switched the broadcaster off the air in the middle of the night on Tuesday.

Unions have called a 24-hour general strike in response, and journalists across all media called an indefinite strike.

Some private media channels are showing solidarity by re-running soap operas and sitcoms instead of news.

PM facing political revolt from within coalition

Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras also faced a political revolt from partners in his ruling coalition, who said they had not been consulted and demanded the broadcaster be switched back on.

But their remarks fell short of threats to walk out of government.

The leader of the Socialist party PASOK, Evangelos Venizelos, called for an urgent meeting of coalition party leaders.

About ERT

Established 75 years ago.

ERT stands for Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation.

Rating have dropped since the rise of commercial TV and radio.

Three statewide stations had 13pc audience share.

Employs 2,600 staff, including 600 journalists.

Government promised to relaunch ERT within weeks.

Many Greeks say ERT is an example of inefficiency and overspending.

"ERT has become a catalyst on issues of democracy, a fair state, cohesion of this government and stability regarding the course of the country," PASOK chief Venizelos said.

"We shouldn't create crises without a reason out of nothing."

The other coalition partner, the small Democratic Left party, said restructuring the broadcaster was necessary but should take place without shutting it.

But Mr Samaras made clear he had no intention of backing down and a senior official said he had no imminent plans to meet other political leaders.

He described support for the broadcaster as an "outbreak of the hypocrisy that has brought Greece to this point".

He said shutting the broadcaster was proof of the political will needed to transform Greece from "a real Jurassic Park, the only place on earth where dinosaurs survived".

"All these years, people wondered whether anybody had the political will to change things," he said.

"We have the political will... There is no better proof than [Tuesday's] announcement."

The confrontation has brought back a febrile atmosphere of political drama in a country that had seemed to be emerging from a pattern of relentless political crisis accompanying one of the biggest peacetime economic collapses in history.

Stock markets closed lower on the news

The return of political turmoil to Greece weighed on European stock markets, which closed lower.

The Athens bourse was cut to emerging market status by index provider MSCI on Wednesday, making Greece the first country ever to lose the status of a developed market.

The gesture was not only symbolically embarrassing but could also force fund managers that track indexes to ditch investments.

That followed the derailing of Greece's privatisation programme earlier this week with the announcement that a gas firm could not be sold

The setbacks have reversed a rise in investor confidence that had prompted Mr Samaras to say the risk of Greece being expelled from the euro zone was over and a "Greekovery" was under way.

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